Lost then Found
by blackorchid95
Summary: On the day of her brother's wedding, Alex Mitchell disappears. Not a year later, she reappears, and isn't the same person she used to be, re-encountering stories of dwarves, a wizard, a hobbit and a dangerous quest.


"I think a small part of me has always loved you, from the moment we met in that forest so long ago. You showed me life like no-one else has before. And most of all, you showed me how to live again. For that, I'll always be grateful Kili. I hope Tauriel makes you as happy as you did in this past year, because you completely deserve it_._"

…

**Chapter One: This Unreal Reality **

…

_2013_

When Alex came to, the sound of incessant beeping and hospital bed sheets was the first thing she acknowledged. This meant she wasn't in-fact dreaming like she first foretold; she really was home again. Lord knows how much time had passed since she had first awoken on Earth again, since the pounding pain in her head pushed her back into unconsciousness, but she assumed it had been some time judging by the burning itch of sunlight on her closed lids was no-longer there. The pounding pain in her head was gone too, now just a dull ache at the back of her brain, meaning this time she felt as if she could finally open her eyes without the risk of blacking out again. But she didn't, not yet at least, because soon she became aware of the sound of a hushed voice nearby.

"The doctors say she's just fine. Physically, at least." The familiar voice of her mother spurred a flood of emotions through her. "If there's no trauma, they think she'll be out within a day." Her Mom didn't sound all too pleased about this. "A _whole year_ she's been gone, Rosemary." _Rosemary? . . . Oh course, Mom's oldest friend, _Alex mentally pinched herself for forgetting momentarily. "They can't just let her leave, just like that. What if her capturers . . . what if they . . ." her Mom couldn't quite finish the sentence.

Alex held back a flinch.

There was a long pause, as Alex assumed Rosemary was speaking. "You're right. I should be glad. She's home. Everything can get back to normal now."

_Home, _Alex repeated in her head. For a strange reason, the word didn't quite settle with her, because truth be told she couldn't quite figure whether Earth really was _home _anymore. For a long time, it had been—even after she was taken from it—but things were different now. _She _was different. A lot had changed since she first left Earth a year ago. She was no longer the Alex Mitchell her family and friends of Earth knew her as. Things had happened over the course of a year that changed her in so many ways, for the better and for the worst.

It all started the day Alex was taken from Earth, one year ago today, on a warm midsummer day…

…

_One Year Ago_

As the sound of a speedy bus passed her with a great _whoosh_, Alex Mitchell retracted her nose from her book with a gasp. Her bright hazel eyes watched the fire-engine red bus pass by her with alarm. She shot up from the bus shelter she stood at and continued to watch as the red bus sailed down the busy London road. "No!" she murmured, mainly to herself. A businessman, who had been passing her as she spoke, glanced around at her and gave her a brow-furrowed look of concern. "That . . ."—she started to explain to the businessman but by then he was already carrying on his way—". . . That was my bus." She finished lamely.

Alex gave a heaving sigh and turned her eyes back onto the bus—it was disappearing out of sight now, making a sharp turn right, down another busy road. She couldn't believe it. She had _actually _missed her bus. All the times she went out of her way, took extra measures, to _never _miss a bus . . . here she goes and misses the bus—on the one day that she needed to get the bus, at that very time. Alex felt like hitting herself with the book in her hand. She glanced down at the front cover, scrunched up her nose. _Damn you John Greene_.

Shoving the bookmark in her book, she pushed the book into her leather shoulder bag and began scourging around the bottom of it to find her phone. She gave a loud cry ("A-ha!") when her hand curled around the familiar rectangular shape of her phone, earning a second concerned look from a passer-by. She ducked her head, hiding behind a long net of black hair and began going through her phone. Her thumb paused over the name 'Mum' in her contact list, and she groaned.

Mum was _not _going to be happy and she wasn't.

"_What_?" her Mum screeched from the other end of the line when Alex broke the news. "You silly girl, how on Earth did you manage that?"

Alex cringed, suddenly feeling like a child again, looking up and down the still busy-street hopelessly. "I don't know. One minute I was reading my book, the next minute the bus was . . ."—

—"This is the most important day of your brother's life, Alex! You're one of the bridesmaids, for Christ's sake. Now your father is going to have to go out of your way to pick you up . . ."

"No, Mum, don't . . . don't get Dad to come get me. I-I'll find a way to get there on time, Ok?"

There was a short pause on her Mum's side of the line. "Have you got your dress?"

Alex looked down at her body, eyeing her floor-length lilac bridesmaid dress. "I'm wearing it right now."

"In the middle of London?"—her Mum gasped in horror—"It's only going to get ruined. Well . . . at least we won't have to worry about getting you ready. Just make sure you get to the church on time . . . Oh, and you'll be the one who will tell Luke and Alice."

Alex mentally groaned, raising a hand to her head. "Alright, fine. I'll call them while I'm on my way."

"Don't leave it 'til the last minute, Alexandria."—Alex knew she was being serious when she used her full name. Mum was not happy with her whatsoever—"God knows Alice is already in a state of worry this morning. Just . . . get here quickly." Alex agreed she would get there as soon as she could before Mum hung up. After that, Alex took one more hopeless glance down each side of the long street, before making a mad dash (the hem of her lilac dress in hand) towards the large gothic building that was Parliament and down into Westminster station.

She was mad to think that she could possibly get to her brother's church by underground tubes, and she was right in saying so. At the time she thought it was a good idea—she had ridden the tube plenty of times as a little girl and knew each station from the back of her hand. But what Alex didn't account for was the mad crowds that hoarded the stations making it impossible to get through barriers, etc. It was the week of the Olympic Ceremony of 2012, meaning so many people—across the world—had come to London to watch the beginning of the Olympic games. Personally Alex thought Luke was mad to get married during the busiest time London will ever experience since the great royal wedding of Prince William and the Duchess Kate of Cambridge. Nonetheless, it had been Alice's decision to get married during the summer—saying something about not wanting any rain on her wedding day.

Alex remembered she snickered at that comment, since they did live in England—pretty much one of the rainiest countries in the world.

Once Alex had made it half-way across London, Alex had given up with the tubes. It was impossible and she would probably have better chances with buses. So Alex made a mad dash out of the station, onto the busy (but not quite as busy as the underground) streets and sped-walk down the path riddled with people walking in every direction. As she came to a cross-road, Alex was forced to a stop as a swarm of busy cars sailed past her, blowing her dress and hair everywhere out of sheer speed. Bottom lip caught between her teeth and her foot tapping impatiently on the ground, Alex darted her eyes around her to find something to distract her from the swarms of ongoing traffic. It was there she spotted it—a billboard ad, on a tall building.

It was the advertisement for the new Hobbit movie—_The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey_. Alex was quite the fan of Peter Jackson and his work on the movies, she had also read the books too. If it hadn't been for her brothers three—Luke, Josh and Sam (who were all fans of the Middle-Earth universe at some point in their childhood)—she probably would have never gotten into it. Alex remembered how she used to sneak into her brother's bedrooms and steal their copies of the books to read them, without them knowing. Alex hadn't read or watched them for a long time now though, in-fact years has gone by since she had watched or read one of the books or movies. It was only now that the Hobbit was coming out that her interest was peaked once more.

Alex blinked, pulling her herself out of her thoughts. She saw that there was a gap on one side of the road and she felt her impatience become too much, sending her head into making a rash decision. She sailed forward, her mind only on the church and her brother. She had gotten passed one side of the road when she realised she hadn't looked the other way, to see whether the other side of the road was clear. It was in that moment that Alex realised the horrible, horrible mistake she had made.

At first she didn't feel the impact, but when she did, it was like nothing she hadn't felt before. Suddenly breaking her leg when she was 8 years old wasn't quite as bad as having—what seems to be—every bone in her body being broken at once. She felt her body being thrown during the impact and her neck being thrown back, a deafening snap and _crunch_ coming from somewhere in her body. Blurs came before her vision, she couldn't even make out a shape—just blurs of colours and objects as she was thrown through the air. And then, she collided—with the ground or another car, she did not know, for darkness soon fell upon her swallowing her whole.

After that Alex assumed she was in some sort of limbo, between life and afterlife, because there was no way that she could really be feeling soft grass beneath her and the smell of fresh woodland. The ground beneath her was considerably dry, despite the obvious scent of a recent downpour. She opened her eyes, after a second of letting everything sink in and her eyes readjust to her surroundings, she noticed the thick canopy of trees above her. The leaves were green—a bright, vibrant green that you'd only see in somewhere like New Zealand, Switzerland or Holland. The sunshine that burnt down upon them gave them a golden glow. The raindrops glistened and sparkled. For a moment, Alex forgot to breathe.

It was breathtaking and vastly different from the cityscape Alex was used to.

_I could get used to this,_ Alex thought to her idly whilst attempting to sit up with her elbows, _if this really was afterlife._

The rest of the woodland was just as beautiful as the treetops, thick grass and mossy tree-trunks surrounded her. Everything was glowing with golden sunlight.

"Yep,"—Alex murmured—"Could really get used to this."

A bush suddenly rustled a short distance away and a wild rabbit hopped out of it a moment later. Alex watched it hop out along the soft, grass, sniffing the ground and completely oblivious to her presence. A soft smile slipped its way onto her face, eyes glittering happily as watched the small, gentle creature. The smile was short-lived for not moments later, an arrow—shot out from somewhere in the wilderness—appeared from no-where and pierced the rabbit to the ground. Alex gasped silently in shock, her whole body stiffening.

Loud movement was suddenly heard through the forest—sticks crunching, leaves rustling and grass hitting something loudly. Not moments later, a man—or at least, she thought it was a man—broke out through the bushes after the rabbit with a bow and arrow in arm. His complexion was dark—tanned skin, shoulder-length dark brunette hair, and stubble that grew upon the bottom half of his face. He was dressed quite peculiarly for someone in this day in age, which startled Alex. His body was laden with thick armour and heavy leather. The strange man had a strange physique, too—broad, hands large and almost stubby, and short.

Much like the rabbit before him, the strange man did not recognise Alex from where she lay. His eyes narrowed on the prize. He wrenched the arrow from the creature quickly, and Alex couldn't stop the second gasp from escaping her when she heard the disgusting sound of the arrow being removed from flesh. The man's eyes snapped up and narrowed on her, without accord his bow and arrow was poised on her—ready to shoot at any given moment. Alex's entire body stiffened and her eyes widened. When the man seemed to take in her appearance, he dropped the bow.

Alex's body lurched into action; she jumped to her feet, gave a frightened squeak and ran. It turned out she was quite light-headed and could only make it to the nearest tree, to which she hid hopelessly behind. She pressed her lips together, chest heaving, and prayed the strange man with the weapon would just leave.

He didn't.

"My lady?" his voice sounded.

Alex squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

When he was met with silence, he spoke once more. "I . . . I mean no harm."

Truthfully, he sounded as just as much startled of _her_ as he of him.

"I did not expect to find a lady as such as yourself in these parts of the woods. Where do you come from may I ask? Bree perhaps?" _Bree?_ Alex mouthed to herself, face crinkled with confusion. Alex knew not of a place called Bree, only the Bree that was in the Lord of the Rings books and films. "Please, lady. Are you lost? I can help you. I can help you find your way home. I promise you I mean you know harm." Alex hated how sincere his words sounded. "I am Kili, son of Dis . . . at your service."

_Kili? Dis?_

"D-Did you say your name was . . . _Kili_?" Alex found herself responding, despite herself.

There was a shuffle of movement somewhere from where the clearing Alex once awakened in. "Yes . . . do you know of me?"

_Oh my God._

"No." Alex snapped a little too quickly. "Your name sounded familiar, is all."

_Was this some kind of joke?_

"Perhaps you know of my brother: Fili." _Holy Sh—_"Or perhaps not. Either way, I swear to you—on the line of Durin—that I mean you no harm my lady."

Alex sucked in a deep breath and slowly stepped out from behind the tree. She jumped when she saw Kili was, in fact, just a few inches from the tree. Their chests almost touched when she stepped out from the tree. She attempted to step backwards, only to stumble on an uprooted tree root. She would have fallen to the ground if it hadn't been for Kili's strong hand curling around her wrist and steadying her. When she rebalanced, Kili's hand dropped and Alex's cheeks flushed.

"Is this some kind of dream?"

The now beaming Kili furrowed his brow in confusion. "Dream? Why would you be dreaming?"

"Because I'm dea . . ."

"_Kili_!" a voice sounded. It was a young voice, but still the voice of a man. The two of them turned in the direction of the voice just as another figure stumbled out of the trees and bushes. This time, the man was stockier, shorter and full of blonde hair and beard. Much like _Kili_, he was donned in armour and leather, only this man bore thick animal fur around his shoulders. He looked around the clearing, swishing his head around making the braids platted around his moustache sway side-to-side. When his eyes finally landed on Kili, a look of relief crossed his face and then when he noticed Alex, a mischievous grin (with a hint of caution) crossed his bearded lips.

"Well, well, well,"—the second man strutted forth. Alex had to hold herself rooted to the ground, restraining herself from hiding behind the tree again as she felt the man's blue eyes flicker between herself and Kili—"We were all beginning to think you'd become Warg dinner, Kili, but now I see what has taken your time." Alex shuffled awkwardly on her feet. When Kili didn't reply, the man turned his gaze a moment after solely on Alex and bowed low. "Fili, at your service, my lady."

_So this was Fili. Neither of them looks in the least bit alike. Fili looked—dare I say it—the most . . . dwarvish of the two._

"Alex, at yours?" Alex replied hopelessly.

"Alex?" Kili repeated, blinked. "What kind of name is that?" Kili hissed when Fili nudged him in his side. "Ahh! I-I mean, er . . ."

Alex tried to bite her tongue, but failed. "What kind of name is Kili?" she shot back a second later.

Fili snickered under his breath.

Kili puffed out his chest. "An honourable name for a dwarf."

There it was. The word Alex had been looking out for. _Dwarf_.

"How can you possibly be a dwarf?" Alex thought. She didn't realise she had said it aloud until she caught Kili and Fili exchange a bizarre look of bafflement. "I-I mean, what I _meant_ to say was that you both seem so _tall_ to be dwarves."

Fili and Kili both blinked. "And you, my lady, seem too short to be human." Fili retorted, his eyes glinting curiously. "Are you of Halfling descent perhaps?"

"Halfling?" Alex retorted shocked. "I'm no Halfling! I-I'm five foot five!"

If this was really happening then they were saying _she_ looked like-like a _hobbit_.

"If you're not a Halfling, then what are you?" Kili replied, face completely baffled. "You can't be a dwarf—surely not."

Fili nodded along with his brother. "You're far too petite, not to mention you're lacking hair on around your chin." Alex didn't know whether to be offended that Fili was calling her small, or complimented by the fact he called her petite.

"I-I'm _human_!" Alex spluttered.

Kili and Fili shared an identical look, then looked back at her and crossed their arms across their chest in sync. "Now I'm starting to think you're having us on." Kili eyed her suspiciously.

"_Kili_? _Fili_?" a third voice sounded. This time the voice was deeper, manlier—and altogether more threatening than the two dwarves that she stood before. Alex groaned—_No, no, not another one. I've had enough of this. I just want to be alone. _Kili and Fili whipped around on the spot, backs considerably straighter as the third dwarf stormed out of the woodland. The dwarf looked more how Alex figured a dwarf should look—long, black hair (with a slight wave to it) that was braided similarly to Fili. A thick black beard covered half of his face and his protruding brows were dark and hairy, almost distracting from his dark glittering hard-set eyes. "What is the meaning of this tardiness? We are ready to leave." the dwarf spat, striding forth. There was a sense of importance in his step and the way that both Fili and Kili acknowledged him.

"I'm sorry, Uncle." Fili was first to speak. "Kili, he . . ."

The dwarf's eyes snapped to Kili. "What? What have you done?"

Kili's eyes widened. "N-Nothing!" he suddenly looked desperate. "I've done n-nothing!" the dwarf looked disbelieving which made Alex wonder whether Kili was quite the troublemaker.

Alex sighed softly to herself and stepped forth. "They found me." The dwarf's eyes finally laid upon Alex, whom had been concealed behind Fili and Kili. "Alex, at your service?" She said, attempting to feign confidence (and failing).

The dwarf stared at Alex for a long considerable time before snapping his gaze back to Fili and Kili. "What is this?"

"We—I-I mean"—Kili faltered with Fili shot him a glare that said '_keep me out of this'_—"_I_ found her." the dwarf did not look happy. The look reminded her of her Mum, whenever Alex had done something she shouldn't have. Alex swallowed back the rising painful feeling in her throat when she thought of her Mum. "S-She's lost."

"You _idiot_,"—the dwarf spat—"You have no idea who she is and who her allegiance lies with."

Kili shook his head fiercely. "N-No. She was frightened of me."

The dwarf narrowed his gaze before slowly moving back onto Alex. "You,"—he grunted and waved a broad finger to her, beckoning her forth. Alex held her tongue and decided to obliged, feeling that some snarky retort would not be in her favour right now—"Where do you come from and what are you?"

"I come from S-Surrey,"—Alex stuttered—"And I am human."

"Surrey? I have never heard of such place. And human? What do you take me for—a _fool_?" the dwarf growled. "Who are you working for? Is it the elves of Greenwood?" he was dangerously close now, glaring down at her with those piercing eyes. Alex was shaking under his gaze. "Answer me!" he reached to grab her but a voice stopped him.

"That is quite enough, Thorin." A gentler, older voice spoke. The only difference about this voice was that it was strangely familiar and when Thorin stepped away from Alex, she understood why. There, stood with two other dwarves (one with a long white fluffy beard that separated into two and flicked up at the bottom like rat tales, the other with a bald head and skin marred with tattoos), dressed in grey robes and a pointed hat was _Gandalf. _The wizard stepped forward, staff in hand. "I do believe you've frightened the poor child enough."

Thorin gritted his teeth. "How can you be so calm? It was you who said to trust nobody."

"Perhaps that was the wrong thing for me to say, if it has made you so paranoid of a mere child."

Alex knotted her brows. She would hardly call herself a _child_.

"Come child,"—the small white-haired dwarf beckoned her—"Let us give you some food before you go on your way." Feeling some kind of comfort in the elderly dwarf, Alex stumbled forward—steering completely clear of Thorin—and towards Gandalf and the two other dwarves. The taller of the two dwarves still stared at her with beady eyes, strong muscled arms crossed over his chest. "Balin, at your service. This is my brother Dwalin." Balin gestured to Dwalin, who merely nodded and grunted to her in acknowledgement. Alex gave the both of them a hesitant smile. "Come along, our camp is in this direction."

Soon the three of them were walking through the woodland, in almost silence. The only sound that came from them was their movement through the beautiful woodland. The silence between the three of them lasted for a few minutes, when the sound of the voices of the ones they had left behind had all but vanished through the trees. It was Balin who broke the silence, with his soft gentle voice.

"I give you my apologies for Thorin's behaviour, lass." Balin spoke. "He has a lot of responsibility upon his shoulders. I do not expect you to understand but, at least accept my apology on his behalf." What Balin didn't realise was that Alex understood more than he'd have thought. "If the circumstances were different, he would have treated you so."

"Thank you,"—Alex muttered gently—"I appreciate your apology, although it wasn't your apology that needed to be given."

"How long have you been lost, lassie?" Balin changed the topic, after that.

Alex scrunched up her nose. She had no idea how much time had passed between being hit by that car and waking up in the middle of woodland. "I do not know." Balin and Dwalin (who had spoken not once) both looked at her, baffled. They had stopped in the middle of the wood. "Truth be told, the last thing I remember was falling unconscious and the next thing I knew . . . I'm here." Alex sheepishly admitted, gesturing around her. She suddenly felt her lower lip tremble; tears were threatening to overcome her. She swallowed thickly, pushing them back once more.

"You wear strange clothes." Dwalin speaks, for the first time, his voice is rough and deep.

Alex looked down ant gasped, realising she was still dressed in her bridesmaid dress. "Oh Mum is going to kill me" she groaned, lifting her leg up to inspect the grass stains at the hem of her dress. "Good thing this is all just a dream." Alex placed her foot back on the ground. From the corner of her eye, she saw Balin and Dwalin exchange a look of uncertainty.

"Dream?" Balin repeated.

Alex chuckled. "Yeah, I mean there's no way that I'm really here—with dwarves, Gandalf the Grey and a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins."

A long awkward silence followed.

"This is no dream, lass." Balin suddenly said, face suddenly completely serious. "And I'd like to know how you know of the hobbit in our company."

…

"Alex,"—her Mum gasped—"You're awake."

At some point through reliving the memory of arriving in Middle-Earth, Alex had opened her eyes. She turned her weak eyes to look at her Mum, who had dropped her phone to the ground in shock. As their connected, she saw tears begin to well in her mother's big blue eyes. The next thing she knew, her Mum was pulling her upper body up from the hospital bed and crushing her body to hers.

"Oh Thank God you're awake. Thank God you're here. You have no idea . . . you have no idea what we've been through this past year . . ." her Mum blubbered into her neck. Beginning to feel the tightness of her Mum's hug, she slowly pried her away with weak hands. Although not strong enough to physically move her body from hers, her Mum complied nonetheless. The whites surrounding her baby blue eyes were now blood shot and tears streaked down her cheeks. "We were beginning to think you were . . . we thought you were . . . you were . . ." she couldn't finish the sentence and Alex was quite glad she didn't. Her Mum reached forward and clasped tightly onto her hands. "We're all just so glad you're back now. I'll call the others to let them know you're awake. We've all be so worried. They're all dying to see you, but the doctors said not to rush into it as it might . . . well, it might not help your recovery."

Alex felt her throat tighten. "I-I'm fine Mum. I'll see them."

Her Mum saw right through her lie. "I'm no fool, Alex. I know you're only saying that to make _us_ feel better. Just . . . _don't_ OK? Right now, we need to concentrate on getting _you_ better." she gave Alex's hand a squeeze. "Stay here, I'll just go grab a nurse." And then her Mum was walking towards the door. Alex watched her go silently. At the door, her Mum looked over her shoulder, giving her a look that looked as if she was unsure whether she'd see her daughter again before stepping out.

Then, when the door clicked shut, Alex was overcome with emotion. She turned her stiff, bruised neck to the other side of the room, staring at the wall and let the tears begin to fall.

_Kili, where are you?_


End file.
